Image forming apparatus and image quality adjustment method

Abstract

An image forming apparatus includes an image forming device and circuitry. The image forming device forms an image on a recording material. The circuitry executes image quality adjustment control for adjusting image quality of the image formed by the image forming device. The circuitry is configured to selectively execute a first control mode for executing first image quality adjustment control and a second control mode including both the first image quality adjustment control and second image quality adjustment control. The circuitry executes only the second image quality adjustment control without executing the first image quality adjustment control in a case in which an execution skip condition for skipping the first image quality adjustment control is satisfied even when an execution condition for executing the second control mode is satisfied.

The invention claimed is: 
     
       1. An image forming apparatus comprising:
 an image former to form an image on a recording material; and 
 circuitry configured to execute image quality adjustment control for adjusting image quality of the image formed by the image former, 
 wherein the circuitry is configured to selectively execute a first control mode for executing first image quality adjustment control and a second control mode including both the first image quality adjustment control and second image quality adjustment control, and 
 wherein the circuitry is configured to 
 receive instruction to execute the second control mode; 
 determine that an execution skip condition for skipping the first image quality adjustment control is satisfied in response to the instruction of executing the second control mode; and 
 execute only the second image quality adjustment control without executing the first image quality adjustment control. 
 
     
     
       2. The image forming apparatus according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein the execution skip condition includes at least one of a condition that an elapsed time from a previous execution of the first image quality adjustment control is less than a specified time, a condition that a number of images formed from the previous execution of the first image quality adjustment control is less than a specified number, a condition that an amount of change from a temperature at the previous execution of the first image quality adjustment control is less than a specified amount, and a condition that an amount of change from humidity at the previous execution of the first image quality adjustment control is less than a specified amount. 
 
     
     
       3. The image forming apparatus according to  claim 2 ,
 wherein the execution skip condition includes at least one of the condition that the amount of change from the temperature at the previous execution of the first image quality adjustment control is less than the specified amount, or the condition that the amount of change from humidity at the previous execution of the first image quality adjustment control is less than the specified amount. 
 
     
     
       4. The image forming apparatus according to  claim 1 , further comprising an input receiver to receive an input of a user instruction,
 wherein the execution condition is a condition that the input receiver receives an input of an instruction to execute the second control mode. 
 
     
     
       5. The image forming apparatus according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein the image former transfers a toner image formed on an image bearer onto a recording material to perform image formation, and 
 wherein one of the first image quality adjustment control and the second image quality adjustment control includes control of setting a toner adhesion amount of the toner image within a predetermined range. 
 
     
     
       6. The image forming apparatus according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein the image former transfers a toner image formed on an image bearer onto a recording material to perform image formation, and 
 wherein one of the first image quality adjustment control and the second image quality adjustment control includes control of correcting a deviation in toner adhesion amount of the toner image in a movement direction of a surface of the image bearer. 
 
     
     
       7. The image forming apparatus according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein the image former transfers a toner image formed on an image bearer onto a recording material to perform image formation, and 
 wherein one of the first image quality adjustment control and the second image quality adjustment control includes control of correcting a deviation in toner adhesion amount of the toner image in a direction orthogonal to a movement direction of a surface of the image bearer. 
 
     
     
       8. The image forming apparatus according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein the image former transfers a toner image formed on an image bearer onto a recording material to perform image formation, and 
 wherein one of the first image quality adjustment control and the second image quality adjustment control includes control of performing gradation correction of the toner image. 
 
     
     
       9. The image forming apparatus according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein the image former transfers a toner image formed on an image bearer onto a recording material to perform image formation, and 
 wherein one of the first image quality adjustment control and the second image quality adjustment control includes control of setting an image density of an image formed on the recording material to a target density. 
 
     
     
       10. The image forming apparatus according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein the image former transfers a toner image formed on an image bearer onto a recording material to perform image formation, and 
 wherein one of the first image quality adjustment control and the second image quality adjustment control includes control of correcting a density deviation of an image in a movement direction of a surface of the image bearer. 
 
     
     
       11. The image forming apparatus according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein the image former transfers a toner image formed on an image bearer onto a recording material to perform image formation, and 
 wherein one of the first image quality adjustment control and the second image quality adjustment control includes control of correcting a density deviation of an image in a direction orthogonal to a movement direction of a surface of the image bearer. 
 
     
     
       12. The image forming apparatus according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein the image former transfers a toner image formed on an image bearer onto a recording material to perform image formation, and 
 wherein one of the first image quality adjustment control and the second image quality adjustment control includes image quality adjustment control of performing gradation correction of an image. 
 
     
     
       13. The image forming apparatus according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein the circuitry includes a central processing unit (CPU), a read only memory (ROM), and a hard disk drive (HDD), 
 wherein the CPU is configured to execute a program stored in the ROM or the HDD to perform image quality adjustment control of an image to be formed. 
 
     
     
       14. The image forming apparatus according to  claim 13 ,
 wherein the CPU is configured to control operations of the image forming apparatus. 
 
     
     
       15. The image forming apparatus according to  claim 14 , further comprising a random access memory (RAM),
 wherein the CPU is configured to execute programs stored in the ROM or the HDD and use the RAM as a work area to control the operations of the image forming apparatus. 
 
     
     
       16. An image quality adjustment method for an image forming apparatus that forms an image on a recording material and executes image quality adjustment control for adjusting image quality of the image formed, the image quality adjustment method comprising:
 selectively executing a first control mode for executing first image quality adjustment control and a second control mode including both the first image quality adjustment control and second image quality adjustment control; 
 receiving instruction to execute the second control mode; 
 determining that an execution skip condition for skipping the first image quality adjustment control is satisfied in response to the instruction of executing the second control mode; and 
 executing only the second image quality adjustment control without executing the first image quality adjustment control.